South Korea’s central bank yesterday cut its economic growth forecast for the fourth time this year and left interest rates at a record low, as a lengthening export slump overshadowed a pick-up in domestic activity.
“The local economy is expected to continue its recovery phase, centered around domestic consumption,” Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol told reporters. “However, uncertainties surrounding the path to recovery remain high.”
The bank shaved its economic growth forecast for this year to 2.7 percent, from the 2.8 percent it had predicted in July.
It is the fourth reduction since the start of the year, when it had estimated 3.9 percent growth.
The bank also left its key interest rate unchanged at 1.5 percent — a decision that had been widely expected following a cut of 25 basis points in June.
Bank policymakers have slashed borrowing costs three times in the past year, citing the weak global economic outlook and sagging exports, which account for about half of South Korea’s GDP.
Shipments have shrunk every month and a slowdown in China — the country’s biggest trading partner — is expected to take a further chunk out of Asia’s fourth-largest economy. The low global oil price has kept inflation hovering below 1 percent.
“We will closely monitor factors at home and abroad including … the growth of household debt and the monetary policy of the US Fed,” the bank said.
Household debt in South Korea amounted to more than 615 trillion won (US$556 billion) as of last month, with housing loans increasing at a record pace this year.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”